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0 pointstypicalset1y ago0 comments

> If the story is "all companies must be fully employee-owned workers' cooperatives", then first, note that you are calling for a restriction on workers' rights: they have to be given part of their pay as stocks, and they can't sell them freely.

This is simply not true. Many workers' coops issue one share per worker (there may not even be stock), which affords them one vote in company matters. In such a scenario the share may not be bought or sold, as it is a case of one share if and only if a member. It is not correct to represent proportional democratic control of a workplace as somehow a restriction on workers rights.

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zby1y ago

If you cannot choose to work for an organization that is governed in a different way - then this is a restriction on your rights.

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empath751y ago

In any realistic scenario, those shares would quickly be diluted to nothing when the company needs to raise money from capital markets. Unions are in general a much better way to protect workers.

The real power disparity between capital and labor is that capital is concentrated and labor is diffuse. Every worker negotiates with the corporation as an individual over compensation and worker rights. When you have a union negotiating the contract, then both labor and capital are concentrated and on a more equal footing, producing more equitable outcomes. Giving employees a tiny ownership stake doesn't really change the power disparity at all.

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